'I know it tastes vile, but I promise it will ease the pain, he said with such optimism that she loathed him. 'Can you remount, or shall I pick you up?
Catrin swallowed. Her sight was now obliterated by ripples of swimming light and whether or not the tisane would remain in her stomach hung in a very delicate balance.
'I can manage, she said through her teeth. Forcing her will to overcome the agony, she accepted his hand to rise and staggered over to the grey. The stallion's flank seemed like the wall of a huge cliff. She watched Oliver gain the saddle in one easy motion, his foot scarcely bearing down on the stirrup iron. To one side, Gawin and Richard were already mounted and waiting.
Catrin closed her eyes, put her foot where she thought Oliver's should be, and felt the muscular tug of his arm as he hauled her up. She landed across the grey's rump like a sack of cabbages and grasped Oliver's pilgrim belt for dear life as the horse snorted in alarm and bunched his hind quarters.
Oliver soothed his mount with a murmur, then let out the reins to ease him forward. 'It isn't as far as it seems, he said, by way of reassurance. 'We'll cross the river at the Sharpness ferry then ride on down to Bristol.
Catrin moaned softly. Any distance was too far just now.
After crossing the Severn, it took another five hours at a gentle plod to reach the city of Bristol. Oliver could have covered the ground in half the time, but he schooled himself to patience and let the warmth of the emerging sun soak into his bones. He talked to Richard of the kin to whom he was being taken: Robert de Caen, Earl of Gloucester, and his wife, the Countess Mabile. He described their great household and the magnificent new keep that dominated the fortifications of Bristol castle. The boy said little, but now and again Oliver would see the lift of an eyebrow or a brightening half glance that told him he was not talking entirely to himself. Catrin went to sleep, leaning against his back. Occasionally she gave a soft little snore but did not awaken, even when he paused to drink from his water flask and eat an oatcake from his travelling rations. She had been sick again at the ferry but not as badly, and a little of her colour had returned.
'Will Catrin be allowed to stay with me? Richard demanded as he washed down his portion of oatcake with a swig from Oliver's flask.
'Of course she will.
The boy gave him such a hard stare that Oliver was moved to cross his breast and swear on his honour. 'But you have to do what they say.
Oliver pursed his lips. 'I have sworn an oath to the Earl of Gloucester to be his man, and to the Empress Mathilda that I will uphold her as my rightful queen, but my oath to your mother to see you and Catrin safe is equally as binding on my honour. He risked tousling the boy's dark hair as he retrieved his flask and looped it around the saddle. 'Don't fret. I promise I won't wash my hands of you the moment we reach Bristol's gates.
The hard stare remained, and as Oliver clicked his tongue to the grey, he remembered Richard saying by firelight that promises came easily.
Catrin was woken by someone bellowing in her ear. 'Avon eels, mistress! Fresh caught, not an hour old!
Her eyes flew open to be confronted by a glistening, slithering mass that filled a rush basket not a foot from her face. The raucous voice belonged to a stout woman clad in a frayed homespun gown, who was thrusting her wares at passers-by and extolling their virtues. Catrin shot upright and recoiled. Pain lanced through her skull and her stomach turned at the sight and smell of the fish.
'Avon eels, master, straight from the river! The woman ran alongside the stallion, shoving her basket beneath Oliver's nose.
Catrin stared round, first in the dazed bewilderment of the newly awakened, and then in the dawning realisation that they had arrived in Bristol. The noise and bustle of the port and town that Robert of Gloucester had made his headquarters struck her like a physical blow. She rubbed her forehead. Her cheek was numb, and when she touched it her fingertips discovered the circular indentations left by hauberk rings.
'Find a basket to put them in and I'll have a dozen, Oliver told the woman and glanced over his shoulder at Catrin. 'Awake I see. Did the potion work?
'My head is like a bell tower after Easter Sunday and I could still sleep for a week, Catrin replied, 'but at least I can think again.
'Are you capable of holding a basket of eels?
The woman returned in triumphant possession of a small rushwork pannier in which she deposited twelve shining, slippery bodies.
'Do I have a choice? Catrin asked as he paid for them.
'You could refuse.
Catrin cast her eyes heavenwards and grabbed the pannier. 'Give them to me.
'God bless you, sir, and your lady wife. Them eels'll make a dish fit for a king!
Oliver thanked the woman with amusement in his voice and rode on. Catrin avoided looking at his purchase and averted her head so as not to inhale its essence.
Oliver laughed darkly. 'Those traders, he said. 'The wonder is that they ever live to tell the tale. Did you hear what she said?
Catrin's face burned. 'Yes, but she just made a mistake. 'A mistake?
'About us being husband and wife.
'Oh, that. He gestured dismissively. 'No, I was talking about the eels. Old King Henry died after gorging himself on a plate of bad ones. They weren't just 'fit for a king', they killed a king and started this entire bloody war. You could even argue that a dish of lampreys cost the Pascals their inheritance, since my brother Simon was overthrown and killed for supporting the Empress Mathilda.
'And you still want to eat them?
He pulled a face, acknowledging her point. 'They're a gift for a friend, he explained. 'But yes, I'll still devour them, despite the ill-fortune visited on me and mine. Etheldreda makes the best eel stew in Christendom — there's no resisting.
'Oh, Catrin said. She was filled with a mixture of relief and disappointment to discover that there was a woman who cooked and cared for him at Bristol. The way he had spoken last night at Penfoss, she had thought him still alone. The sounds, sights and smells of the city engulfed her as they rode single-file through its narrow alleys towards the castle. The last time she had visited Bristol was with Lewis in the first year of their marriage. He had bought her a brass circlet and a square of raw silk to make a veil. He had kissed her in the street, his dark eyes laughing, and she had thought herself the luckiest of women. Now she was riding down the same street, bumping along behind a man she barely knew, a basket of mud-smelling eels in her hands, her head pounding fit to burst, and her mistress's body tied in a blanket across a pack pony's withers.
The ghost of Lewis watched her ride past and did not recognise her. Her gaze on the castle walls and the bright gonfanons flying from the battlements, Catrin thought that she did not recognise herself either — except perhaps for the scarlet hose peeping in defiance from beneath her gown.
Chapter 3
Bristol Castle was overflowing with hired soldiers. In the space of five minutes, Catrin heard as many different tongues, as Oliver led her and Richard to the keep, leaving Gawin in charge of the horses and the eels.
There were men of every variety and rank, from half-naked footsoldiers and poor Welsh bowmen to toughened mercenaries and well-accoutred knights with swords at their hips. The gap between the ragged and the rich was not as vast as it seemed, for all soldiers, whatever their rank, wore the same expression of hungry expectation. Oliver walked among and through them with ease, now and then smiling a greeting to those he knew, but Catrin felt great discomfort at being in the midst of such checked voraciousness. Beside her, Richard grasped her hand and she saw his blue eyes darken. To reassure him that these men were allies stuck in her throat, for
